Jeweler Covetous Shen - Lore and Character Dialogue Guide - Diablo 3

Updated on June 1, 2012

This lore and character dialogue guide will cover Covetous Shen, the Jeweler Artisan follower in Diablo 3, providing background information and a listing of his dialogue options that are available throughout the game, with information on when they can be heard for the Everybody Loves Shenachievement.

*SPOILER WARNING*The purpose of this guide is to cover plot event's and other important information. If you don't want to learn something you may not already know, go beat the game first and come back later.

Note: Sometimes a dialogue option remains hidden until you have opened another one that is available. Also, sometimes they eventually go away later in the game.

Also, the character's replies are done from the point of the Witch Doctor, others may be added in the future for completionism, but they will all be along the same lines. Requests are open if this is something you are interested in, just leave a comment below and I'll work on getting your requested character type's put in.

About Covetous Shen:

Shen is the most talkative character by far, also being your artisan Jeweler after discovering him locked away in a barrel in the Waterlogged Passage Act II. Although he might seem like a babbling loon at first, he is actually one of the most mysterious and intriguing people who join your cause.

Available Dialogues in Diablo 3

Tell Me About Yourself

The Restless Dead

Deckard Cain

Jewels

King Leoric

The Fallen Star

The World

Dark Visions

Grieving

The Stranger

The Journey Ahead

A Special Jewel

The Legend of Zei the Trickster/A Case of Mistaken Identity

A Mysterious Rumor

The Desert Heat

Caldeum

Zoltun Kulle

Legends and Myth

The Jewel's Price

The Black Soulstone

The Frozen North

Memories*

More Memories

Hard Questions

The Battlefields

The Nature of the Jewel

The End

The Hunt Continues

Hope

A Dark Day

Leah's Soul

God or Man

Ruin and Corruption

The Lord of Terror

Tell Me About Yourself

Available at the start of the Quest: A Shattered Crown (Act I)

Covetous Shen:Ah, a very interesting topic, heh-heh! I sell jewels.

Player:What you do does not define you. Where do you come from?

Covetous Shen:Xiansai! Great Families warred in the streets! Political intrigue and bottomless wells of treachery around every corner!

Player:I notice that you still tell me nothing of yourself.

Covetous Shen:Oh dear. Perhaps you are not asking the right questions.

The Restless Dead

Available at the start of the Quest: A Shattered Crown (Act I)

Covetous Shen:You are very brave to venture outside the town gates. I hear there are all sorts of dangerous things crawling around out there.

Player:The spirits speak of the risen dead.

Covetous Shen:That's terrible! I only meant the rats and snakes.

Deckard Cain

Available at the start of the Quest: A Shattered Crown (Act I)

Covetous Shen:Hm, I do like this Deckard Cain fellow. It's rare that I can find someone I have so much in common with.

Player:You do not seem very similar.

Covetous Shen:We both had rather interesting experiences with the Zakarum priestesses in our youths.

Jewels

Available at the start of the Quest: A Shattered Crown (Act I)*May need to progress to Northwest GateDisappears at Reign of the Black King.

Covetous Shen:You know, there is nothing in the world quite so perfect as jewels. They have color, size, shape... transparency.

Player:You do have a powerful love for them, it seems.

Covetous Shen:Oh yes! If only I could eat them, I would need nothing else in life. Not that you can't. I hear some people even shave certain crystals atop their food!

King Leoric

Available at the start of the Quest: Reign of the Black King (Act I)Disappears at Sword of the Stranger

Covetous Shen:Well... though I never knew him personally, I saw Leoric himself when he was building his manor.

A troubled man with a heavy burden upon his fragile mind. Is it any wonder that he built such a home for himself?

What he needed was someone to teach him how to laugh once in a while.

The Fallen Star

Available at the start of the Quest: Sword of the Stranger (Act I)Disappears at The Broken Blade

Covetous Shen:Oh, perhaps it was a jewel that fell from the sky. Did you ever consider that?

Player:It was not a jewel; it was a stranger. A man.

Covetous Shen:A man? Now, that is strange. Where do you suppose he came from? And how did he survive his fall? Did he have any jewels on him?

The World

Available at the start of the Quest: The Broken Blade (Act I)*May need to progress to Talk to Alaric

Covetous Shen:Such a strange place this world is. You never know what you might find over the next rise, or what the next day might bring.

A man who fell from the sky, a king who cannot die. I can tell I will have no dull days, traveling with you.

Dark Visions

Available at the start of the Quest: The Doom in Wortham (Act I)

Covetous Shen:I can see the fires from here. Wortham burns.

It is only the truly evil who force innocents to suffer for a battle they have no part in.

Grieving

Available at the start of the Quest: Trailing the Coven (Act I)

Covetous Shen:It's a cruel world that would take Deckard Cain away from us. His was never an easy life, and he gave much for us all.

Player:I will not rest until Maghda and her coven have paid for Cain's death.

Covetous Shen:We all pay. Just look at the face of Leah, the poor girl. What price could the Coven pay that could be greater than that?

The Stranger

Available at the start of the Quest: The Imprisoned Angel (Act I)

Covetous Shen:A strange man. I know a thing or two about a man with secrets.

Player:Like you?

Covetous Shen:Me? Oh, no. I'm a simple man. Give me a good meal, a warm bed, and a handful of jewels. But you, I think, are different. Complicated.

The Journey Ahead

Available at the start of the Quest: Return to New Tristram(Act I)

Covetous Shen:Where do we go next? To the great desert?

Player:We go to Caldeum.

Covetous Shen:Caldeum! Yes, the great Jewel of the East!

Player:Caldeum is not actually a jewel.

Covetous Shen:I knew that.

A Special Jewel

Available at the start of the Quest: Shadows in the Desert (Act II)UnlocksThe Legend of Zei the Trickster/A Case of Mistaken Identity (see below)

Covetous Shen:I knew you would lead me to exciting and mysterious places! We should encounter the jewel I seek any day now!

Player:Tell me of this jewel. What does it look like?

Covetous Shen:Sometimes, a ruby. Other times, a glorious emerald or a stunning diamond. It is very good at hiding.

Player:So it is aware. There is a dark spirit within?

Covetous Shen:A very good question. A dangerous question. You are getting better at them.

Player:I notice that you did not answer me.

Covetous Shen:Hmm. Yes, well, a good question answers itself.

A Case of Mistaken Identity

This conversation is labeled as The Legend of Zei the Trickster in the achievements menu, but A Case of Mistaken Identity in Shen's conversation window.(probably referring to the journal received afterwards)Available at the start of the Quest: Shadows in the Desert (Act I)Unlocked after the conversation, A Special Jewel.

Covetous Shen:You try to give a young man some advice, and he assumes you are the Xiansai god of thieves, traveling in disguise as an elderly jeweler!

I understand his confusion. Zei and I do share certain features.

Player:How strange. The spirits tell me that you are often mistaken for this god.

Covetous Shen:That would be correct! But enough about me. Who are these "spirits" you speak to?

Player:All who die pass from this world to Mbwiru Eikura, the true one. They speak to me, and some of them say they knew you from times long past.

Covetous Shen:Of course they do! I am very memorable!

The Legend of Zei the Trickster (Journal Unlocked)

The people of Xiansai worship fifty-nine gods, but few are more revered than Zei, the exiled trickster god who travels the face of the world, disguised as a humble merchant. Tales of his adventures range from ingenious thefts and practical jokes to more... lurid exploits, none of which I am comfortable recording here. And al-Hazir

A Mysterious Rumor

Available at the start of the quest Shadows in the Desert (Act II)

Jeweler Covetous Shen: I heard a rumor that there is a strange and mysterious jewelcrafting device hidden in the aqueducts of the Dahlgur Oasis.

I have a mind to go search for it myself. Don't worry, I won't go alone. I'm sure I'll find someone to show me around.

The Desert Heat

Available at the start of the quest Shadows in the Desert (Act II)

Jeweler Covetous Shen: Ugh, it's even hotter than I remembered it. I'm afraid I'm growing weak. I need a drink, and a bath, and something to keep the sun off.

Or maybe just a nice, cold jewel to put on my forehead. That will fix everything.

Caldeum

Available at the start of the quest A Royal Audience (Act II)

Jeweler Covetous Shen: The Jewel of the East! Caldeum is really quite amazing. I have never seen anything quite like it, and I have seen many things in my life.

Player: Caldeum is not actually a jewel. It is just a name.

Covetous Shen: That explains quite a bit, actually.

Zoltun Kulle

Available at the start of the quest Betrayer of the Horadrim (Act II)

Covetous Shen: I think I might have met Zoltun Kulle once. He seemed like a perfectly reasonable sort, for a mage, that is.

Player: Are mages so different?

Covetous Shen: Oh yes, well, you know how they can be, with the waving hands and the mumbling all the time. They can be a little strange.

Legends and Myth

Available at the start of the quest Blood and Sand (Act II)

Covetous Shen: You are looking at me in a very strange manner.

Player: The spirits are confused. This is not something that happens. Some think you a god; others, a man. Which are you?

Covetous Shen: Ah, philosophy! Can a man not be both? Can I not live well, and give generously, and live a perfectly holy life?

The Jewel's Price

Covetous Shen: I think I was wrong about the jewel I seek. It is not in this land either. What a pity.

Player: Why do you search for this jewel so persistently?

Covetous Shen: Because... it has killed thousands, and because I am the only one who can hold it without harm.

Player: Because you are a god?

Covetous Shen: No. Because it has already taken everything from me that matters.

But enough of that! I have gone too long without spiced beef and spicier wine!

The Black Soulstone

Available at the start of the quest The Scouring of Caldeum (Act II)

Covetous Shen: Do you think I could take a close look at that Black Soulstone? It's like nothing I've ever seen before.

Player: It is no ordinary stone. It is an object of great evil.

Covetous Shen: You think to little of me. The object of my search is as dangerous as anything. My expertise may be of some use to you. I am, after all, quite well versed in the knowledge of jewels and stones.

The Frozen North

Available at the start of the quest The Siege of Bastion's Keep (Act III)

Covetous Shen: It's just unnatural to go from a place so hot to a place so cold. The change isn't good for my old bones.

Player: I had to come here.

Covetous Shen: And what is all this noise? It's as though we're right in the middle of a battle!

Player: This is a great battle we are in.

Covetous Shen: I know; isn't it?

Memories

Available at the start of the quest The Siege of Bastion's Keep (Act III)

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That did not work for me but worked when choosing "A Shattered Crown: Northwest Gate"

Ned 4 years ago

You are awesome! Thank you.

Synikal 4 years ago

Nothing much but you have mispelled "Royal" as "Roral" for the Caldeum storyline.

SOE 4 years ago Author

Thanks for the updates and corrections. I have added them in and added a credits section.

Kaldorei 4 years ago

The Stranger

Cannot achieve conversation until "The Cursed Hold" quest start

Chevsya 4 years ago

Grieving is only possible from the part Khazra Barricade.

shenman 4 years ago

The Battlefields

not working for me...

TankReady 4 years ago

Dark Visions not available for me at the checkpoint stated

TankReady 4 years ago

Ok correction: it works, you have to talk to the stranger first, and have to go sail to Wortham.

Herp 4 years ago

I can't get half of the act 4 ones...

Href 4 years ago

As Herp i have a few ones from act 4 i can't get :(

Tried many times but no success.

It's those :

The Hunt Continues

Leah's Soul

God or Man

Href 4 years ago

Alright got it. Maybe a bug, i had to start again "The Nature of the Jewel" and the others appears. Thanks for the guide, it's complete & well explained (if i've tried others dialogue at first... XD)

Sach 4 years ago

The Hunt Continues

Leah's Soul

God or Man

They can be done on Prime evil ( enter the crystal arch )

Buggg 4 years ago

God or man bugged????????

Lawnor 4 years ago

I just couldn't get God or Man. Its was last dialogue. I'd played through act 4 many times jumping to shen every quest update and it just didn't appear.

Then I switched to my first character that had listened to every chat in every act and jumped to "Prime evil ( enter the crystal arch )" and it was waiting for me. Guess it was dependant on an earlier chat that wasn't available in act 4.

Skiski 4 years ago

Im trying to get this achievement completed but there seems to be another conversation that's not listed here and i can't figure out how to get it, its after The lord of terror and its called Victory i would think it would be available after killing diablo but its not. Anyone has an idea how to get it?

luk 4 years ago

i think this is new since 1.0.5, can't get that ither

Benjamin 4 years ago

Nice Guide. Strange how no one anywhere knows where to activate the "Victory", so we can all finish up the conversation achievements. A new dungeon event where he finds his jewel??

SOE 4 years ago Author

Yeah, I don't remember that being part of the requirements before, but also I feel like that conversation was active at the end of the Diablo fight previously, since I remember talking to him and I even have it marked off. Odd.